The Edible Schoolyard

The classroom, kitchen, and garden form a triad of educational experience. Lessons taught in the classroom are enriched by hands-on garden and kitchen activities, while concepts that arise in the kitchen and garden are meaningfully discussed in the classroom. The settings are most productive when linked, and foster students' multileveled understanding of the natural world. Teachers provide students with direct instruction in support of kitchen and garden activities, such as plant structure and function, composting, vermiculture, and vocabulary. Because all students participate in The Edible Schoolyard, teachers reference garden and kitchen experiences to activate prior knowledge and support the teaching of key concepts.

FROM SEED TO TABLE

Student participation in all aspects of the Seed to Table experience occurs as they prepare beds, plant seeds and seedlings, tend crops, and harvest produce. Through these engaging activities, students begin to understand the cycle of food production. Vegetables, grains, and fruits, grown in soil rich with the compost of last year's harvest, are elements of seasonal recipes prepared by students in the kitchen. Students and teachers sit together to eat at tables set with flowers from the garden, adults facilitate conversation, and cleanup is a collective responsibility. They complete the Seed to Table cycle by taking vegetable scraps back to the garden at the end of each kitchen class. The Seed to Table experience exposes children to food production, ecology, and nutrition, and fosters an appreciation of meaningful work, and of fresh and natural food.

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